Six vehicles attended as volunteers to ferry the doctors and vets around the course. Due to the dry spell that we had all recently enjoyed, the course had to be watered regularly for a few days leading up to the event as ground that is too hard can be as bad for the horses as ground that is too soft. Unfortunately there were one or two incidents that required the professional expertise of the doctors & vets, but on the whole an extremely interesting event. The dry weather held out helping to make a very pleasant day for all concerned.

Phil Baker and I turned up on the Saturday night to help out however we could, but as it was dark, it was almost impossible. As the venue was not only new to us, but new to the LRC, all the setting out had to be carried out at first light on the Sunday. All we knew from a night recce was that it was going to be very wet and slippy underfoot……….or under wheels.

So once we were set up and ready for an overnight stay, it was time to book in, say hello to our hosts and get ready for the bonfire party, fireworks and BBQ. After the party and getting ready for the issues of the following day, we all bedded down for the night.

Up at dawn meant an early breakfast, and then two of us ventured out into the unknown, The event Clerk of Course got stuck trying to get up the first hill, so that meant it was going to be a down section only………and on a red route only. Following other signage, we headed to an area where we were trying to create a green and a red route. We tried driving on the green route, but soon found that it was too slippy and difficult and as the Clerk of Course, John, had a little “incident”, it was clear it had to be a red route only, and was confirmed by a second “incident” with Glenn Hill and Phil Baker following behind us. We had an urgent winch job by Paul and Andy to carry out early in the morning, to enable the “now assessed extreme red route” to be opened, and the event hadn’t even started yet.

Eventually, we all made it back to the start point, re-grouped with our other Crews and got ready to move into position ready for the event start. We agreed marshalling locations, but would need to be a little flexible once we knew where any trouble spots were going to be. The events Safety Officer asked our permission to start the event, and then off we went.

We had quite a variety of vehicles running around during the day…………from little Suzuki’s to a new Range Rover Sport (even though he damaged his rear bumper), together with a mix of vehicles with road tyres to mud terrain shod “off-roaders”.

Over 30 vehicles signed in for the day, and as far as we know, a great time was had by all, including us. A large number of vehicles got stuck, got very muddy, but everything went well, with no major issues.

The Organisers thanked us all for our help, or else they couldn’t have run the event.
 

Phil Baker & Glenn Hill

09 Reg RR Sport

G4 Disco 3

Off Roader Disco 1

Disco 1 coming downhill

Suzuki

LR 90

Andy Jones at top of "green route"

Rally Control/Start